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 Early History
Midwest Roots
Early Indian
Ministry
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 The origins of Jesuits in the American Midwest date from 1803 when Bishop Louis William Valentine DeBourg visited the Jesuits at White Marsh, Maryland seeking Jesuit manpower to conduct an Indian school at his farm at Florissant, Missouri, near St. Louis. Within a short time, Father Charles VanQuickenborne led a caravan down the Cumberland Road to the Ohio River, by flatboat to southern Illinois, on foot across Illinois to St. Louis and Florissant.
The Missouri Mission developed in isolation of the rest of the Society of Jesus after 1830, growing rapidly through immigration. In 1840, when Missouri became a vice-province, it had 154 members, only 16 of whom were born in the United States. The others included 45 born in Ireland, 42 from Belgium, 16 Dutch, 13 German, 11 Italian, 9 French, and 2 from Spain.
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